New Delhi: Akhilesh Yadav entered his Samajwadi Party into an alliance with Congress for assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh but had to face a humiliating defeat. At a time when Congress fared better than expected in Gujarat, the former UP Chief Minister said his party's ally worked better here.


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Congress gave a scare to BJP -  a party which has been in power in Gujarat for 22 years - when it managed to take the lead during the counting of votes. While it eventually fell behind, the performance was still better than what many expected. "Congress did better work in Gujarat than it had in Uttar Pradesh. The party looked at the ground-level problems intricately, unified its workers and worked for the youth. As for the final outcome, I welcome the decision of the people at large," Akhilesh told Zee News.


(CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS: Gujarat | Himachal Pradesh)


Akhilesh and Congress' Rahul Gandhi were all praise for each other before UP elections earlier this year. SP however won only 47 seats while Congress managed nine. His message for Rahul after Gujarat election results? "Those who win, will lose one day. Those who lose will win one day."


The 44-year-old, whose split from father Mulayam and uncle Shivraj grabbed headlines before the UP elections, also attacked BJP - a party which won 312 of the 403 seats in his state."BJP is a party of miracles. They do well in diverting attention from real issues," he said, adding - rather sarcastically - that rival parties learnt the 'art' of distracting from BJP, these parties too can succeed at state and national levels.